How to Setup a Dedicated Web Server for Free

Transcription

1 How to Setup a Dedicated Web Server for Free Install Apache, MySQL, and PHP It is now time to install some programs. In order to access your sites from the internet, we're going to need to install a web server (Apache). In additon to the web server, we'll also want a database server (MySQL) and a server-side language (PHP) so that we can run popular applications such as WordPress. So, let's get to it! Installing programs on Ubuntu is a lot different than installing programs on Windows or OS X, in that Ubuntu will download and install the programs for you with a simple command. This is because Ubuntu has something called a Package Manager, which manages nearly all the programs on your system. All we have to do is tell the package manager (called "aptitude") that we want it to install Apache, MySQL, and PHP. To do this, type the following command:

2 After that has all finished, you now have a fully working web server. To test it out, first find your server's IP by typing: It's usually the first IP returned. In my case, it's Now that you know the IP, open your web browser and point it to your server IP. If you see the "It works!" message, then congratulations, it works.

3 However, we're not done yet. We don't want Apache or PHP to disclose any information about themselves, as this information is not needed by your users and could pose a security risk. First, back up the original Apache configuration file: 1 sudo cp /etc/apache2/apache2.conf /etc/apache2/apache2.conf.bak Now open the configuration file: 1 sudo nano /etc/apache2/apache2.conf Scroll down (down arrow) to where it says "ServerTokens Full" and change it to read "ServerTokens Prod"

4 Finally, press Control-O followed by Control-X. That will save the file and exit the text editor. Now, we need to do the same thing for PHP. First, back up the original PHP configuration file: 1 sudo cp /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini.bak Open the configuration file: 1 sudo nano /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini Change "expose_php = On" to "expose_php = Off"

5 Again, press Control-O followed by Control-X. Now that the configuration files are updated, restart Apache: 1 sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart You are done setting up Apache, MySQL, and PHP. 5 Testing PHP5 / Getting Details About Your PHP5 Installation The document root of the default web site is /var/www. We will now create a small PHP file (info.php) in that directory and call it in a browser. The file will display lots of useful details about our PHP installation, such as the installed PHP version. vi /var/www/info.php <?php phpinfo();?> Now we call that file in a browser (e.g.

6 As you see, PHP5 is working, and it's working through the Apache 2.0 Handler, as shown in the Server API line. If you scroll further down, you will see all modules that are already enabled in PHP5. MySQL is not listed there which means we don't have MySQL support in PHP5 yet. 6 Getting MySQL Support In PHP5 To get MySQL support in PHP, we can install the php5-mysql package. It's a good idea to install some other PHP5 modules as well as you might need them for your applications. You can search for available PHP5 modules like this: apt-cache search php5 Pick the ones you need and install them like this: apt-get install php5-mysql php5-curl php5-gd php5-intl php-pear php5-imagick php5-imap php5-mcrypt php5- memcache php5-ming php5-ps php5-pspell php5-recode php5-snmp php5-sqlite php5-tidy php5-xmlrpc php5- xsl Now restart Apache2: /etc/init.d/apache2 restart Now reload in your browser and scroll down to the modules section again. You should now find lots of new modules there, including the MySQL module:

7 7 phpmyadmin phpmyadmin is a web interface through which you can manage your MySQL databases. It's a good idea to install it: apt-get install phpmyadmin You will see the following questions: Web server to reconfigure automatically: <-- apache2 Make sure you hit the space bar to select the Apache2 server then tab to OK and hit enter Configure database for phpmyadmin with dbconfig-common? <-- yes You will be prompted to enter the root password of MySql, this is the password you selected during the install. This is not your Ubuntu login password. Then you wll be asked for a password for phpmyadmin, I use the same password as MySql but it can be different. Make a symbolic link so it is easy to find with the browser. sudo ln s /usr/share/phpmyadmin /var/www/html/phpmyadmin Note: Ubuntu server puts the default files in /var/www/html, previous servers just used /var/www. You may also have to restart Apache2.

8 susdo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart Afterwards, you can access phpmyadmin under If you get a mcrypt extension error edit php.ini file sudo gedit /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini search for mcrypt and add the following line extension=mcrypt.so sudo gedit 8 Links Apache: PHP: MySQL: Ubuntu: phpmyadmin:

9 6. Install a Firewall We now are going to lock down our server a bit more by installing Shorewall, a command-line firewall. To install it: 1 sudo aptitude install shorewall By default, Shorewall is installed with no rules, allowing complete access. However, this is not the behavior we want. Instead, we're going to block all connections to anything other than port 80 (HTTP) and port 22 (SSH). First, copy the configuration files to the Shorewall directory: 1 sudo cp /usr/share/doc/shorewall-common/examples/one-interface/* /etc/shorewall/ Now, open the "rules" file: 1 sudo nano /etc/shorewall/rules Add these lines above where it says "#LAST LINE"

10 Then press Control-O and Control-X. Your firewall is now configured to only accept HTTP and SSH traffic. The last thing we need to do is tell Shorewall to start on boot. So, open up the main Shorewall configuration file: Press Control-O and Control-X. Now, open the Shorewall default configuration file: 1 sudo nano /etc/default/shorewall And change "startup=0" to "startup=1". Press Control-O and Control-X. Finally, start your firewall: 1 sudo /etc/init.d/shorewall start Congratulations! Your firewall is now set up and protecting your server. 7. Add Your Website to Your Web Server Now that you've got everything all set up, you'd probably like to add a website to it. By default, all of the files Apache serves up to the internet are located at "/var/www/". However, you cannot write to this folder. Let's make it so you can:

11 1 2 3 sudo usermod -g www-data [YOUR USERNAME] sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www What happened there was you added yourself to the "www-data" group, and made the website folder writable to the members of the "www-data" group. Now, you're going to log into your server using SFTP (not to be confused with FTPS). Some clients that support SFTP are: WinSCP (Windows, Free), FileZilla (Windows, Linux, OS X, Free), Cyberduck (OS X, Free), and, my personal favorite, Transmit (OS X, $30) You may now add your files to this folder (/var/www) and they will show up on your server when you browse to it with your web browser.

12 Now, you may wonder why we're using SFTP instead of FTP, mainly, because SFTP is already built into OpenSSH (which you installed earlier). However, it is also a lot more secure than FTP, and makes it difficult (if not impossible) for malicious users to gain access to your login credentials.

13 8. Make Your Server Accesible to the Internet Most modern home networks are behind a router these days. Because of this, your web server will not be visible to the internet without a little work. As I don't have every router available to test with, I can only give you general directions in this area. There are two ways to open your server up to the internet: a DMZ or Port Forwarding. The main difference you'll notice is that with a DMZ, your server uses the firewall we installed earlier to protect itself. However, with Port Forwarding, your server will be protected by your router's firewall. However, before we go on, you're going to want to give your server a static LAN address. To do that, login to your router, and look for something along the lines of "Static IPs" or "Static Routing". After you have given your server a static LAN address, you can do these next parts. Remember, Google is your friend. To port forward, there is an excellent website, PortForward.com, that, while ugly, can help you get the job done for almost any router. The ports that you want to forward are 22 and 80. To create a DMZ, you need to login to your router and look for something like "DMZ settings". Once you find it, add your server to the DMZ, and you'll be set. Again, Google is helpful in situations like this. Now, find your public IP, and voila! You can access your server from anywhere as long as your IP doesn't change. Advertisement 9. Managing Your Server Remotely Beside allowing you to upload files, OpenSSH allows you to login to your server from anywhere as long as you know it's IP. For Windows, you'll need an SSH client. I recommend Putty. For OS X, SSH is already installed. Simply open up Terminal, and type "ssh you@yourip". For Putty, choose SSH,

14 You can do anything from here that you would do actually sitting at the server. To logout from the server, simply type "exit" and hit enter. 10. That's It! You now have a completely functioning web server. It makes for a great testing ground, and would even be suitable to host websites with fairly low traffic. There is obviously a lot left to be learned, but hopefully you have gained a little insight into how web servers work. If you'd like to read more on the topics I covered, here are some great guides: Installing Software Setting Up Apache, MySQL, and PHP Shorewall Configuration Guide

15 How to Port Forward

16 Comments and feedback Dave a year ago What nameservers would you use to point your domain to your server? jacob Dave 5 months ago Starting "Shorewall firewall": not done. I dont know how to solve this problem :( please helpp Dave a year ago Also, if your website is eating about 500GB bandwidth per month, would your ISP be able to handle this? Jamie Dave 4 months ago 500GB is tiny.. Should be fine, but check the T&C's Jack 2 years ago For those having trouble like I did with copying to the shorewall directory and with finding the ServerTokens and ServerSignature lines...this solved it for me: For editing the ServerTokens and ServerSignature lines you need to open up a different file than specified in the tutorial. It's in /etc/apache2/conf.d/security And for the copying the shorewall example file for one interface to the shorewall directory, use this command sudo cp /usr/share/doc/shorewall/examples/one interface/* /etc/shorewall/ This works for me as of 12/28/2011 with whatever release of these programs I have. Not sure where the files might be located in the future Ali Fairfax a year ago Hi there, Wondering is some one on here can help, i have set up a web server using this guide and am fairly new to linux. It all works fine however I need to forward the port so the pages can be viewed externally but the ports 22 and 80 are already being used by another server so cannot use them is there a way to edit the port numbers for them protocols within shorewall? Ali. THC a year ago Hey, I m a bit new regarding putting up servers and similar stuff. Would this work on a 1 TB external hard drive (which is power supplied from a socket)? And if it would work, then do I have to start it from a computer every single time or could the system and server auto boot every time i turn on my hard drive? Any kind of help appreciated! =)

17 test.com a year ago I got this web page from my friend who informed me about this site and at the moment this time I am browsing this site and reading very informative content at this time. James 2 years ago Thank you very much for this awesome info. Just to help out a little bit. Follow Jacks advice "For editing the ServerTokens and ServerSignature lines you need to open up a different file than specified in the tutorial. It s in /etc/apache2/conf.d/security And for the copying the shorewall example file for one interface to the shorewall directory, use this command sudo cp /usr/share/doc/shorewall/examples/one interface/* /etc/shorewall/" Other important tips For the Shorewall to start you need to edit /etc/shorewall/shorewall.conf and make the STARTUP ENABLED=No to STARTUP ENABLED=Yes Also, an awesome program for the ssh and sftp is Tunnelier. It allows for remote desktop, remote terminal, and sftp.i personally like it more than filezilla. It is for windows. nic taylor a year ago how do you point to web browser from a ubuntu SERVER? dylanm312 nic taylor a year ago You do it on a different computer. Say the IP of your server is You would open up some other computer and type that IP into the address bar. Guest dylanm312 a year ago But the XXX is localhost, you enter that in your web browser you'll be trying to access your own computer is your own local linksys router for example. Mike Guest 8 months ago Not quite, is the localhost loopback address XXX will connect to other computers on the LAN so if you have 3 computers connected on the LAN they will all have different XXX digits: etc

18 So if has an SSH server daemon you can connect from by typing "ssh brad a year ago in the firewall part. Add these lines above where it says #LAST LINE When i get into it i can't find anything called LAST LINE gagan sharma 2 years ago I saw you are just writing command and everything was just installing. For example php, mysql, firewall etc. Where are these software coming from? Are they built in ubuntu? I mean on windows you first have to download them before installing. Similarly, on ubuntu don't you have to download them first in order to install something? can anyone please clear my this doubt. Very good and comprehensive explanation. thanks a lot. Egga gagan sharma a year ago When you run the install command on Ubuntu, it fetches the files from an online repository. There is also a graphical front end to do the above mentioned tasks. Nelson Ameyo gagan sharma 6 months ago lol... Vladorz 2 years ago Nice tutorial but how do I link a domain name to my newly created web server? :D Andy Vladorz a year ago You add an A record on your domain that points to the server IP. noname 2 years ago It is a lot easier then this and you can have a lot more setup, type these lines via terminal wget tar zxvf ehcp_latest.tgz cd ehcp./install.sh This will setup the webserver and give you an easy to use control panel to run it. Visit for more details nights 5 years ago That's interesting...thanks alot..

19 LoudDelivery 4 days ago Awesome tutorial! jack 2 months ago hi i wanted to know how would you link your domain to your server Daniel Villarreal 7 months ago Man, I need to pay subscription or I'll start to feel ill, or like a crook, I have to pay for Sublime Text, Tutsplus, and Sublime SFTP. maybe you reading this should pay too :) AFTER learning ofcourse!!! Maybe after our first job, or income, which I can see coming soon!!! Thankyou!! Jay 8 months ago is better now Anarchist 10 months ago Hi, I m new to the whole setting a website, my website requires a database, Because people are creating a membership page if you want to call it that. so how do i get these two together. (my database and my server.?) and also i need to know does ubuntu server look like a command prompt or does it look like a normal computer screen. I m a bit confused as to how all of this would function let's say my server my database and my php and html files.. and also would i first have to have my website registered with a host like let's say network solutions.? Would be helpful for some more info... Francisco 11 months ago Thanks for the tutorial! I'm having some trouble at the final steps: setting up Transmit. I get an error when I try to connect, I think I got wrong the IP address. when I do "ifconfig grep inet" I get 2 IP, both of them passed the test, but none works Transmit. Any ideas?? (The IPs are: and , which one should I use?). It caught my attention that it has only one number after the second ".". Is this the ip address we are looking for or it should be different?? Thanks!! Kira The FoxWolf 11 months ago Can you still use your computer normally after the server is installed? Paul Kira The FoxWolf 7 months ago yes you can install a GUI in your Ubuntu... that way your not only limited to the terminal... It will take up more memory though. Andrew a year ago Awesome!!! nam a year ago Great Post!!! is very useful, thanks for posting this..

20 Daniel a year ago Hey great tut, thanks..just wondering, is it possible and how would you add/host a teamspeak, or ventrillo sever on this??..thanks! Matt Mapleston a year ago Thanks for your post great stuff. Here's what I managed to do with your advice: Tejas Tank a year ago Not its not enough, Also need network configuration and domain configuration, also when it fail what other opens? Gary a year ago Hi All this is great, Can you run 10 website with this setup? Each with there on domain names, they are registered all read. Thanks for your help jade a year ago is this still updated as of now? i mean all the steps are still applicable today? Omar a year ago Excellent!!! is very useful thanks to post EricUS a year ago Thanks! Nice job it works without your help it would have taken hours : ) Furgelnod a year ago This was very helpful for setting up a local web server in virtualbox for testing with, thanks. Setup a year ago I am now not positive the place you're getting your information, however good topic. I needs to spend a while studying more or understanding more. Thank you for wonderful info I was in search of this information for my mission. Tom 2 years ago I have followed this tutorial and everything seems great except when I use WinSCP to upload files to the webserver they create a HTTP Error 500 when I try and load them in the browser. Two things I have noticed, the file permission of new files are 644 rather than 755 of the apache created index.html and the owner of the existing file is www data and the new files are under my username. Can anyone help out?

21 Pankaj Bhojwani 2 years ago New to networking but still found very useful information... great effort thanks for the post... Thakur Adhikari 2 years ago Hello, I got up to the half of it and apparently my computer is not working. So if you could kindly post a video tutorial that would be appreciated. Regards from Australia Emiliano 2 years ago Hello, what kind of interner connection do you think i need for this to run? I am currently on a VPS and I have been having around 45GB traffic Monthly. For 10 websites, that most of them get 1000visits daily. My internet connection is a 20MB and 2MB upload. Do you think I will be able to run all these websites or more without a problem? Thank you Andy Emiliano a year ago No. Nowhere near to the quality of your VPS. Most VPS providers have 100MB/1GB lines. ASHWIN PATHAK 2 years ago CAN WE TRY IT ON VMware?? David 2 years ago Awesome tutorial. It might not be for installing a professional level server, but for starters it is very nice. Clear, precise and friendly. It teaches people the ropes on servers. Thanks a lot!! Peter 2 years ago I have read through your tutorial which is well laid out, before i take the plunge in setting up a web server on a Lan I have a question?. If I m delivering a web page to mobiles and pc's what is the maximum number of concurrent http requests can be handled by the apache software in this setup. Some connections would remain live as information is being updated on a regular basis. Would appreciate your help.

22 Regards Peter eric 2 years ago i cant get the server to add me to is says that the file does not exist? has it been changed anyway this tutorial is awesome. there aren't many good in depth intros to starting a web server. anyway if anyone can help me thanks. pramod 2 years ago Thanks a lot, but will you please advise me what to do when my server memory gets full. Should i implement some methods to increase the hard disk space?